MUS 103 Unit 5 Study Guide

Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)

A German Romantic composer whose works resembles greatly the Classic tradition. He was born into an affluent family and raised in the Protestant Faith. He was a great child musical prodigy but died at the age of thirty-eight from exhausting work. He composed all kinds of music except Opera. His compositions have a logical form. He had a love of balance. Founded the conservatory of Leipzig. Be familiar with: Overture to A Midsummer Night's Dream, in sonata-allegro form.

The Ballet

A dance form featuring a staged presentation of group or solo dancing with music, costumes, and scenery. In the 19th century, this was preeminent in France and Russia.

American Vernacular Music

A rich blend of musical elements brought by various ethnic groups.

Camp Meetings

A tool of the Second Great Awakening (a Christian movement in the early 1800s) where people would gather to sing songs of worship.

Ring shout

An ecstatic, transcendent religious ritual, first practiced by African slaves in the West Indies and the United States, in which worshipers move in a circle while shuffling and stomping their feet and clapping their hands, call and response.

Bohemian Ideals

Artist cut off from society, indifferent public, rejected dreams. Short-lived optimism, doubt, disenchantment.

Frederic Francois Chopin (1810-1849)

Born in Warsaw, Poland, was a composer/pianist. Moved to Paris at age 21. Had a tumultuous affair with novelist Aurore Dudevant (George Sand). Originator of modern piano style. Died of tuberculosis at age 39. Be familiar with "A Polonaise" by Chopin (Polonaise in A Major, Op. 40, No. 1 (Military))

Nineteenth Century Piano

Central to western musical tradition; most expressive, technologically versatile instrument available and attractive across the board from amateurs to professionals. Was seen as a staple of refined education. Technical improvements led to modern concert grand piano (factory production reduced cost, extended range due to improved mechanical action, and metal frame increased the string tension)

Singspiel

Comic German drama with spoken dialogue; the immediate predecessor of Romantic German opera.

Short Lyric Piano Piece

Compact instrument equivalent to song. Fanciful titles include those as prelude, intermezzo, impromptu, nocturne. If dance-inspired: drew from Polish mazurka: polonaise, Viennese waltz: scherzo Descriptive titles such as "Wild hunt", "Little Bell", "Forest Murmurs", "Gucci Gang". Main composers were Schubert, Chopin, Liszt, Felix

Stephen Foster

Composer from just outside Pittsburgh, composed for Christy Minstrels, which was a black face minstrel show. He was the first American to make a living as a professional songwriter, died a penniless alcoholic. Know "Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair", which was written for his wife, Jane Denny McDowell. Not popular during his lifetime. Themes of lost youth and happiness.

Orchestral Program Music

Concert Overture: Single-movement concert piece for orchestra, usually retains traditional Classical forms. Incidental Music: Overture and pieces between acts of a play - music enhances the spoken drama. Sometimes this is arranged into suites. Symphonic Poem: One-movement orchestral work created by Franz Liszt, has a freer structure, flexibility. Contrasting sections suggest poetic idea, scenes, and mood.

Romantic Themes

Conflict between individual and society, glamorization of the past, strangeness and wonder.

Early North American Music

Cultivated repertoire: "high art" from European immigrants: operas, chamber music, and symphonies. In the vernacular: "American popular identity": lighter music, dancing, singing at home, public events, parades. The popular music "belonged to the people", lots of financial profit.

Hector Berlioz (1803-1869)

French composer and conductor who wrote the first text book on orchestration. Romantic era musician. Left medical school to study music, influenced by Beethoven and Shakespeare. Intense, bold, passionate musical style. Wrote three operas. Be familiar with Symphonie Fantastique (five-movement symphony). Specifically movement 4 - March to the Scaffold, and movement 5: Dream of a Witches' Sabbath.

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)

German Composer, conductor Mentored by Robert and Clara Schumann. Moved to Vienna and was enormously successful. Traditionalist. At age 40 he began composing symphonies, wrote 4. Be familiar with Brahm's Symphony No. 3 in F Major, movement 3.

Richard Wagner (1813-1883)

German composer, conductor. Born in Leipzig. Greatest figure in German Opera, at age 23 began serious composition. Wrote own librettos unifying music and drama. Wagner's music fused poetry, drama, visual, and music to make drama. Know Die Walkure (The Valkyre) Act 3, opening and finale.

Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel (1805-1847)

German pianist, composer, born in Berlin. Sister of Felix Mendelssohn. Her father discouraged her from music. Wrote over 125 piano works, 250+ lieder. Listen to September: At the River from The Year (Das Jahr).

Robert Schumann (1810-1856)

German, early/mid Romantic composer. Works intensely autobiographical and have descriptive titles, texts, programs. Studied piano with Friedrich Wieck. Gifted writer and music critic. Piano pieces (10 years); 1840 (marries Clara Woeck): art songs. After 1840: symphonies and chamber music. Over 200 Lieder, several song cycles. Gradual mental collapse, ended up in an asylum in 1854. Be familiar with Dictherliebe (A poet's love). 16 poems written by Heinrich Heine, cycle follows psychological progression; freshness of love to complete despair. Specifically listen to "In the Lovely Month of May" from it.

Romantic Era Music

Industrial revolution led improvements to instruments, making them more affordable. Public concert halls, bigger orchestras, additional instruments added to orchestras. Conductor was central figure. More developed musical vocabulary; used highly expressive terms (dolce, cantabile, dolente, maestoso, giocoso, con amore). Expanded dynamic range, rise of nationalism.

Romantic Program Music

Instrumental music with a literary or pictorial association supplied by the composer, usually specific characters/events/general mood. Brought music closer to poetry, painting. Program music was cultivated over absolute music.

Romantic Style Traits

Instruments sing melodies, marked lyricism. Expressive harmony, more chromatic. New orchestral forms include symphonic poem, choral symphony, solo voice.

Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924)

Italian Composer, main voice of verismo movement. Was the son of a church organist, had lots of early success followed by misfortune. Major works include La Boheme, Tosa, Madame Butterfly, Turandot. Be familiar with Madame Butterfly, act 2, un bel di (one beautiful day).

Claude Debussy (1862-1918)

Most important French impressionist composer, at age 11 attended Paris Conservatory. Shocked professed with bizarre harmonies and defied the rules. at age 22 won Prix De Rome. Had international success for an opera: Pelleas and Melisande in 1902. Helped establish French art song (melodie). Died in the 1918 bombardment of Paris. Style was light and airy, short flexible forms. Be familiar with the prelude to "The Afternoon of Faun".

Ragtime Music

Music popular from late 1800s that preceded jazz, was influenced by African American songs and featured syncopated, or "ragged," rhythm.

Edvard Grieg (1843-1907)

Norwegian composer, pianist, international figure. Studied in Leipzig, influenced by Mendelssohn and Schumann. Style was mainly smaller scale works, lyricism, nationalistic use of folk music and dances. Be familiar with Peer Gynt, Suite No. 1, Specifically: Morning Mood, In the Hall of the Mountain King

Verismo movement

Opera plots focused on subjects from everyday life rather than mythology or history. Down to earth.

French Impressionism

Painting style that was not exact photo but instead gave the "impression" of object as light falls on it: Claude Monet, Renoir, Pissario, Edgar Degas.

Parlor Songs

Sweet, sentimental, and nostalgic songs. Blend Italian operas and financial success of nostalgic "folk songs". Intended for amateur performance.

Musical Nationalism

Pride of conquering nations, or a struggle for freedom. Music was based on folk songs and dances. Dramatic works on folklore and peasant life.

Romantic Era

Rebelled against conventional concerns. Focused on intense, individual, emotional expression. Eternal longing, regret for lost happiness of childhood.

Women in the Nineteenth Century Music

Rigid societal expectations, composition discouraged, not much public performance. Played the roles of patrons, sponsors, and teachers. In the Romantic Era had educational opportunities as singers, instrumentalists, composers in public conservatories. Also became teachers.

Lied (Lieder, plural)

Romantic era German song, piano accompaniment with solo voice. Prominent composers: Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel, Clara Wieck Schumann.

Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)

Russian composer who entered the Conservatory of St. Petersburg at age 23. Taught 12 years at Moscow Conservatory, extremely sensitive nature and prone to depression. Nadezhda von Meck, a wealthy widow, became his patron. Wrote 3 ballets: Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty, and The Nutcracker. Be familiar with the Nutcracker: Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy, and Trepak.

Idee Fixe (fixed idea)

Single melody used in several movements of a long work to represent a recurring idea.

German Musical Theater in the early 1800s

Spoken dialogue mostly, with minimal singing.

Types of lieder structure

Strophic: Same melody every stanza Through-composed: without repetitions of whole sections Modified strophic: features of strophic and through-composed

Scott Joplin (1868-1917)

Texan composer and master of ragtime who considered the genre serious music; introduced ragtime to national audiences at the Chicago World's Fair in 1893, seeking to elevate African American music and secure a broad national audience. Be familiar with Maple Leaf Rag

John Philip Sousa (1854-1932)

The most popular bandleader from the 1890s through World War I. Vernacular tradition, wind bands. Known as the "March King". Wrote over 130 marches such as: Semper Fidelis, Washington Post, Stars and Stripes Forever. Created national music for America

Early Recording Technology

The recording industry began through two significant inventions: Thomas Edison's cylinder phonograph, the first practical sound recording and playback device, in 1877. Emile Berliner's gramophone disc, the first format to allow mass reproduction, in 1889.

Minstrelsy

Theatrical variety shows that stereotyped African American culture, featured white performers in black face. Popular in the 1800s.

Impacts of Industrial and French Revolution on Music

Urban commerce and industry, brought people to cities. Democratic Character, sympathy for the oppressed. "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity" inspired artists.

Franz Schubert (1797-1828)

Viennese composer Member of the Vienna Boys' Choir Songwriting prodigy, was a schoolteacher but rejected it. Know Elfking (Poem written by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, music by Schubert, based on a Danish legend)